NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: FULTON FERRY

Developer Woos Artists, Who Do Not Return the Favor

By AMY WALDMAN

Published: September 7, 1997

In clean, well-lighted studios in a cluster of buildings down by the Brooklyn Bridge, artists are shaping fabric into couture, wood into sculpture, paint into beauty. Such a honeycomb of creativity is exactly what their landlord, the Manhattan developer David Walentas, hoped for when he renovated the formerly decrepit manufacturing buildings, part of the 2.5 million square feet of real estate he owns between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. ''We're trying to create a SoHo kind of environment,'' said Mr. Walentas's son Jed, who works for his father's Two Trees Management Company.

Given Mr. Walentas's affinity for artists, and his efforts to lure them to his buildings, it might seem odd that artists are helping to lead the charge against the developer's plans for the waterfront area.

A coalition of groups from the neighborhoods around the bridges -- Fulton Ferry, Dumbo, Vinegar Hill and Brooklyn Heights, among others -- has united into the Old Brooklyn Waterfront Alliance to try to put the brakes on what members characterize as the Walentas juggernaut. ''We do not want a commercial developer deciding what should be done here,'' said Doreen Gallo, a visual artist and alliance member who has lived in Dumbo (which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) for 17 years.

Mr. Walentas's critics are not worried about his plans to woo artists to the area; rather, it is his effort to gain control of state parkland along the water and seven Civil War-era warehouses that has them riled. Mr. Walentas has been trying for more than a decade to create an entertainment, shopping and recreation mecca along the waterfront. As he appears closer to realizing that goal, opposition has heated up.

On Aug. 18, Mr. Walentas received city certification to convert the clock tower building at One Main Street, along with some adjacent property, into residential units. The conversion must now pass the city's land use review process.

Meanwhile, Mr. Walentas is awaiting a decision from the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation on whether he can develop the state's waterfront land. He has already been asked by the Giuliani administration to develop the city's waterfront land, and he was the only respondent to the state's request for development proposals.

Mr. Walentas's aim is to transform the waterfront, now both derelict and quaint, into a bustling consumer hub of stores, restaurants, movie theaters and parking garages.

Ms. Gallo and other longtime residents said such a development would destroy their neighborhoods' character and peace.

They expressed particular concern about traffic. The Walentases agree that their target market will arrive by car -- ''Middle-class homeowners in Brooklyn and Queens drive places,'' Jed Walentas said -- but insist the goal would be to keep traffic out of the neighborhood. No traffic studies have been completed.

Brian Vattimo, a spokesman for the state parks office, said the agency could not comment on the Walentas proposal. Martin Connor, the State Senator who represents the area, said the parks office had assured him that it would not make a decision until he had been briefed on the proposal. ''I can see the politics driving it,'' he said of the perception that the Governor and Mayor support Mr. Walentas, ''and I can't do anything about that, but I would insist that community concerns be addressed.'' AMY WALDMAN

Map of Brooklyn showing the location of the area sought for development by Two Trees Management Company.